IBM PAFE Add-ins Issue - Classic add-in reappears, New add-in fails to appear, New add-in fails to register for PAX API

[Adam]

Ran into an issue regarding IBM Planning Analytics for Excel (PAX/PAFE) that I wanted to document for the benefit of others.

Specific symptoms include:

1. Although uninstalled, legacy PAFE Excel Add-ins: CognosOfficeBI and CognosOfficeTM1, remain enabled (checked on Excel Add-ins list). Even after disabling (unchecking on Excel Add-ins list) post uninstall, re-opening Excel causes each to reappear on the Excel Add-ins list in an enabled but non-functional state.
2. Although enabled (checked on Excel Add-ins list), the current PAFE ribbon tab does not appear after the startup of Excel.

After working through other approaches, the solution that resolves both above is to open Registry Editor and navigate to

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HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Excel\Options

and:

1. Remove registry entries named “OPEN*” referencing (A) above. This permanently removes the uninstalled add-ins from the Excel startup process and the add-ins list.
2. Excel stops scanning for Add-ins to open during Excel startup when it encounters an “OPEN*” entry with (blank) data. Modify “OPEN*” registry entries so there are no (blank) values. Additionally, the list of add-ins shown in the registry must be continuous e.g. OPEN -> OPEN1 -> OPEN2, etc. rather than discontinuous OPEN -> OPEN2 -> OPEN4, etc.

[Wim Gielis]

Thanks Adam.

Also, related material: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16017

[Adam]

Thanks for sharing. Even solving for #1, #2 would have been an issue in our case as there was something like 5 blank OPEN*s before the current IBM PAFE add-in. Trials and tribulations of Excel add-ins management!

[Wim Gielis]

Absolutely.

Another useful link, from Excel MVP Jan Karel Pieterse:
https://jkp-ads.com/Articles/excel-addi ... roblem.asp

[Adam]

Ran into another issue today that isn't 100% related to Classic add-in (so adjusted thread title) but thought this was the best place to document it as the symptoms are the same. For me this happened during a dirty Excel crash.

Symptoms are:

• No references to IBM PAFE in the Excel Add-ins window.
• IBM PAFE Excel automation fails to register with standard name and registers with the "alternate" name, which breaks all the automation (this would be the same symptom as with Classic add-in).

Fix -- In addition to the registry location in the first post in this thread, you ALSO need to delete the registry "folder":

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Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Excel\Addins\CognosOffice12.Connect